Now Bob, we all know in Victorian England times, people merely took a sponge bath at best. Baths and personal hygiene were simply *not* discussed so it's with the times to not mention them in literature. PLUS showers didn't exist and baths weren't as high fashion as they are today...
I happened to find it strange near the beginning of the book that he went through all these sweaty things and wasn't anxious to get in a shower. Plot hole? No, just something I noticed.
Now as for why the book as a whole didn't capture me as much as some other series, I really think that boils down to characterization. Reacher is a tough guy...but the book has this "love'm and "leave'm" kind of thing going on. The woman in question was good at her job, *relatively* strong...but not worth hanging around for apparently. Reacher's just this super-cool dude who has his fling and moves on. There's nothing wrong with that from a story perspective, but just like real tough guys can wear pink, real tough guys have real relationships (not all successful, but yanno.) I felt like the author sort of "threw" the relationship away for convenience sake there at the end.
And I have not read any of the later ones. Maybe he develops some great relationships. I'm only referring to the way this book struck me. Kind of a "The Hulk" theme of constantly moving on in search of...something.
That's not a plot hole either, it's a perfectly reasonable and realistic character trait.
Last edited by BearMountainBooks; 10-07-2010 at 03:25 PM.
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